OrthoAnalytika (Orthodox Podcast)

In this podcast, I describe encounters with Christ, ranging from Nathaniel, to Volodymyr, to Woonsocket, to three young Muslims who visited St. Michael's this past Sunday.

Direct download: 20090308__Encounters_with_Christ.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

Part I:  A world made in Love rewards forgiveness with happiness (now and forever).  Part II:  Kyivan notions of stewardship were informed by its agrarian paganism; what is ours informed by?

Direct download: 20090301__Forgiveness.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

Gravity and the consequence of poor decisions.

Direct download: 20090222__Gravity_and_Love.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

Scientific Support for Humility: in this parable, God describes how humility is blessed and how pride is not.

Direct download: 20090208__Publican_and_the_Pharisee.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

Jesus’ message of forgiveness was radical; designed to restore community to Himself as God, and through this; restore community among all God-fearing people. 

Direct download: 20090201__Zacchaeus_Sunday.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

In this episode, Fr. Anthony riffs on St. Paul's claim to the first among sinners.

Direct download: 20090125__Chief_of_Sinners.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

The importance of Baptism in the Christian life.

Direct download: 20090118__Baptizing_the_World.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

I believe that honest seekers will always end up at Christ. His presence, indeed the reality of the entire Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), are so foundational that they cannot help but infiltrate every system of philosophy, every religion; and pull on every human heart.

Direct download: 20090111__Following_the_Star_-_what_will_they_find_.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

Why do we read the geneology of Christ the Sunday before Nativity?  Fr. Anthony tries to explain.

Direct download: 20090104__Saying_the_Names.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

The Lord is inviting you now to accept His salvific grace; to be freed from your sin, to be granted life in abundance, and to feast with the saints and angels in His loving presence.  Also, Fr. Anthony talks about the Old Calendar.

Direct download: 20081228__Are_you_coming_to_the_Feast_.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20081221  St. Nicholas lived in perilous times, when the faith was under attack from several directions. He thrived despite the challenges because he had followed St. Paul’s advice. He had put on the breastplate of righteousness, shod his feet with the Gospel, buckled on the shield of faith, and put the helmet of salvation; and held firmly to the sword of truth. This whole armor of God allowed him to persevere against the principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness.

Direct download: 20081221_Armor_of_God.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20081214  You cannot serve two masters (St. Matthew 6: 24). There is only one master worth having, and that is Jesus Christ. He is better than money, sexual gratification, meanness, and pride. These might bring comfort during this lifetime, but it is Christ that beings eternal life and following His commandments that bring true satisfaction and joy today. Do what every saint has already done: give up everything you have and follow Him. Because through Him all things are possible.

Direct download: 20081214_No_Reserve_Domain.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20081207  How to improve your life during difficult financial times by overcoming consumer-addiction.

Direct download: 20081207_Thriving_on_the_Cheap.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20081130  Now, like anyone who is away from their homeland, we never feel quite right where we are. There is always the nagging sense that we were made for something else, something better; that the world itself is not quite right. We try to satisfy that longing with various things; you know the litany.

Direct download: 20081130_Wall_of_Separation.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20081123  What does it mean that “by grace you have been saved?” What is the role of “faith?” What is the role of “good works.” What, exactly, do we need to do to be saved? Just believe in Christ? Just be a good person, doing “good works”?

Direct download: 20081123_Holding_on_to_the_Rope.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20081116  Today we have a foretaste and proof of something that you must always keep in your mind. Something that will bring comfort to you in sorrow and strength when you are weak: that Christ is coming to resurrect all the dead, that He comes to restore everyone to complete health of soul and body, and, at the same time, to restore us to perfect health in community with one another.

Direct download: 20081116_Healing_on_the_Way.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20081109  Living a Christian life involves more than confessing Christ as your Saviour. It even involves more than partaking of the Mysteries and prayers that He offers us through His Church. It involves developing and routinizing a way of life that is thoroughly grounded in His teaching, how else are we to become Christ-like if we do not implement His teachings?

Direct download: 20081109_Orthodoxy_and_Money.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20081102  Why should we listen to St. Paul? Wasn’t he “just a man”? There are lots of teachers out there, many of whom teach a different, easier, version of the Gospel. Why treat his opinions as any more valuable than these others? Our generation is not the first tempted to trade St. Paul’s teachings about the Christ for others. The Galatians were tempted to do this.

Direct download: 20081102_Why_Should_We_Trust_Him.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20081026  We cannot live life in joy without God. We cannot truly enjoy our relationships with one another unless we ourselves and those relations are grounded in the Truth.

Direct download: 20081026_Orthodoxy_as_the_Good_Ground.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20081019  Are you one of those people whose financial problems keep you up at night? Is money what keeps you from enjoying life? Is it what poisons your mind so that you know only stress and hopelessness? St. Paul has an answer for you: give cheerfully.

Direct download: 20081019_Regaining_Our_Sense_of_Touch.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20081012  God is Light: the purest perfection. The purest joy. The purest love. The purest beauty. The purest peace. He desires that we join Him in that light. That we become pure joy, pure love, pure beauty, and pure peace. That we transcend the sin and darkness of this broken world to live now and eternally in abundant and rational bliss.

Direct download: 20081012_Our_Great_Counselor.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20081005  In these financial times, when people have taken our economy to the brink of destruction with bad loans and risky investments, it might be tempting to sympathize with the servant who buried his talent. But this is not a story about going into debt (which scripture routinely criticizes as unhealthy and dangerous), or about about taking on risk in an attempt to satisfy hedonistic desires for riches or property; or even about mortgaging the future to satisfy illicit desires now. This is a story about taking stock of what we have, rolling up our sleeves, and getting to work.

Direct download: 20081005_Now_is_the_Time.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080928  This is a difficult world. There are so many of us who are sick. There are so many of us that are hurting. Not just sick and hurting from physical ailments and pain, but also mentally and spiritually. We are a wounded people. And among almost all of us, there is the mistaken belief that we should bear our pain in secret. While there is a time and a place for stoicism, this is not it. Despite what the world teaches us.

Direct download: 20080928_Jars_of_Clay.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080921  In the birth of Mary, you have a juxtaposition of weakness and strength; the weakness of the elderly and heretofore barren Joachim and Anna, [and] the weakness of their newborn babe; with the strength of God and the inexorable tide of history leading through their small efforts to the grand climax of the world’s remaking.

Direct download: 20080921_Humility_and_Offering.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080914  In this Gospel lesson, the Lord is trying to open up the eyes of His audience, to help them understand that He is the Son of God, and that the natural way to receive Him is with repentance and gratitude. He does this through a parable and scriptural interpretation.

Direct download: 20080914_Grateful_Service.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080907  What a wonderful day to celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ! In fact, could there be anything better than gathering together here in this beautiful temple and offering the first few hours of this new week in communal praise of God? No, brothers and sisters, this love that you feel – for one another and for Our Lord – is what we are made for and the thing that perfects us.

Direct download: 20080907_Just_Follow_Me.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080831  Do you want to be healed of your spiritual infirmity?  If you want to be freed from your sins, then you must forgive others. If you refuse to forgive, then you cut yourself off from your brother and, in your lack of love and compassion, you cut yourself off from God and everything good.

Direct download: 20080831_Forgive_or_Die.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080824  Whom do you trust to guide your decisions? St. Paul or Madison Avenue?  I can certainly tell you which one is most influencing the hearts and minds of this community, our neighbors, our families, and our friends! If you want to see where someone’s heart is, look to how they spend their time and how they spend their money.

Direct download: 20080824_StPaul_or_Madison_Avenue.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080817  The main lesson from today’s Gospel [at least for today] is NOT that Christ walked on water – although through this, He demonstrated once again His power over nature – but rather His interaction with Peter and the disciples. For it is not surprising that God can do amazing things – anyone with eyes to see must be struck by His Power and Glory – but that God cares for us as His own children.

Direct download: 20080817_Saved_from_the_Storm.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080810  During these campaign seasons, it is easy to get wrapped up in what the government can or cannot do for us and those whom we love, but we cannot forget the more fundamental truth that the fight to vanquish what really ails the world is not against oppression, or war, or even hunger, but the sin that gives rise to them.

Direct download: 20080810_Feed_the_World.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080803 Today St. Paul is “preaching to the choir”. Have you heard this term? During these Summer months, this term is especially appropriate – so many people are traveling that there have been Sundays when we literally have more folks in the choir loft than down here in the pews. St. Paul knows his audience and their great faith – so he shares a lesson with them that will challenge them where they are; a challenge that is equally appropriate to us here today.

Direct download: 20080803_Preaching_to_the_Choir.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080720  St. Paul wants the God-fearing men of his day to be saved, but he is worried. He says that they have “zeal for God” (which is a good thing), but not according to knowledge (which is a bad thing). He is not talking about people who skip prayers and services, but those have made religion the center of their lives. They have made religion the center of their lives, but, “being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10: 3).

Direct download: 20080720_Culture_and_its_Value.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080713  A homily on the need to rise above our passions and share the "water of life" with a thirsty world.

Direct download: 20080713_pass_the_straws.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080706  There is much anxiety in the world today. Gas prices have gone up, stressing already tight budgets. The locomotive growth of India and China, with the resultant demand for oil suggests that this trend will continue. Money problems in turn put stress on the family, an institution that has suffered from decades of assault – and is now showing serious signs of weakness. The normalization of pre-marital sex, divorce and illegitimacy is a logical – if misguided – attempt by society to find a new equilibrium.

Direct download: 20080706_Lillies_of_the_Field.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080629  This homily was given at All Saints Camp (UOC-USA) in Emlenton, PA, during the middle Sunday of the two-week Church School Camp.

Direct download: 20080629_All_Saints_Ukraine_Camp.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080622  Today we celebrate the “great cloud of witnesses” that surround us, encouraging us to ”run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12: 1-2).

Direct download: 20080622_All_Saints.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080615  The Holy Spirit is hard to understand – we know and confess that God is “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – One God”. But what is this Holy Spirit?

Direct download: 20080615_Pentecost.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080609  Today, on the Sunday before Pentecost, we celebrate the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council. Like so many things in our Holy Orthodox Faith, the central place given to this – and all the Ecumenical Councils – places us in direct contrast to the world.

Direct download: 20080609_Ecumnical_Council.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

Today is the second of a series of podcasts based on a class we teach here at St. Michael’s, called “Our Faith: Orthodox Christianity at St. Michael’s”. This set of classes is designed to explore Orthodox Christianity as it is practiced at St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church. As such, it will cover the fundamental tenets of our faith as they are lived in our personal lives, our homes, our community, and our parish. The rest of the classes will be published as time permits.

Direct download: 20080603_ABCs_of_Orthodoxy.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080601  A homily on the man born blind, the Sabbath, and spiritual sight.

Direct download: 20080602_Blind_Man.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080521  This is a recording of a class given at St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the topic of marriage.

Direct download: 20080521_Marriage.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080518  Do you want to be healed? What is your answer? If you do, then believe in Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, accept his care. But do not stop there - remember that Christ commands the man He healed to “Sin no more;” that is, to change his life. If you do this, blessings will follow in your life and the world around you will be changed.

Direct download: 20080518_Paralytic.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080514  A recording of a class given at St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church entitled "An Introduction to Orthodoxy and Islam".

Direct download: 20080514_Orthodoxy_and_Islam_I.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080511  Today we have the coincidence of two celebrations that belong together: Motherʼs Day and the Myrrhbearing Women. St. Nikolai Velimirovich wrote some wonderful poetry that builds on these themes of motherhood and myrrhbearing...

Direct download: 20080511_Myhrrbearing_Women.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080507  The Bottom Line: We MUST do better. Our salvation as Christians, our future as a parish, and the health of potential communicants DEPEND on it. Some things are out of our control, but we can control many things. This talk provides an Orthodox approach to Church Growth, but it is not abstract theology.

Direct download: 20080507-Church_Growth.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST

20080506  This is the first of a series of podcasts based on a class we teach here at St. Michael’s, called “Our Faith: Orthodox Christianity at St. Michael’s”. Today I will briefly discuss my own journey to Orthodoxy and Woonsocket.

Direct download: 20080506_My_Journey_to_Orthodoxy.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 7:12pm EST

20080504  We have two parts of our history being described today: the first involves the interaction between the Risen Lord Jesus Christ and his disciples; the second, the continuing witness and power of the Orthodox Church. Today I want to make the connection between these two things, and between them and our Holy Orthodox Church, our Ukrainian Orthodox Archdiocese, and our parish of St. Michael’s here in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Direct download: 20080504_St_Thomas_Sunday.mp3
Category:Orthodox Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EST